Mid Season Break

[tompo]

Will the proposed winter break apply to all clubs or just the Premiership?

The problem with this country is that you cannot say with any degree of certainty when we are going to get bad weather, if at all. For example, the break could be arranged for mid January but we could get bad weather in February or March that could lead to games being postponed then.

The other problem will be when to have the break. The third and fourth rounds of the cup take place in January and replays cannot take place in the week following the game because of the police. They wont have it in late December/early January because games in that period traditionally attract the best crowds.

Neither is it a valid argument to say that it is to give the players a rest because in the majority of cases, clubs will take the opportunity to arrange friendlies, probably abroad somewhere. They will have to train anyway.

If, it should apply to Nationwide clubs then it will put undue financial pressure on clubs like City who rely on revenue coming in on regular basis. Some clubs could end up not playing for several weeks, particularly if we get bad weather outside of the break that leads to games being postponed.

As English clubs tend to play more than games than anyone else, all I can see happening is that the season will become more drawn out or more midweek games will have to be played which will defeat the purpose of the break in the first place.

Of course it could be a ploy to speed up the reduction of the number of clubs in the Premiership. Watch them squeal then.

[Guest pogue mahone]

just the premiership.

every single person who thinks a winter break is a good idea is a lightweight and a halfwit and should be barred from all football grounds forthwith. because as soon as this comes in, you'll have Wenger and co moaning about fixture pile-ups at the run-ins to the Champions League and Premiership campaigns.

[fct]

ARSEne Whinger is a bloody moaner for the sake of complaining anyway... you can see it can't you? 1940 and the Maginot Line, he's standing on top as the panzers go round it through Belgium, moaning that the Germans are breaking he rules and they should have a replay.

The "break" for 2 weeks is for Premiership only, and is scheduled to come right after the 3rd round of the cup. So thats around Jan 10-17. This years' bad weather period? Jan 28-31. Also as has been pointed out already, some teams will go arrange friendlies anyway, thus negating the effect.

When the top division was cut from 22 to 20, purely to ease fixture congestion, some of the chairmen immediately sought to increase the number of competitions elsewhere to make up for "lost" revenue. they really can't see further than the end of their wallet.